14th Female Doctor for the wrong reason not the right

OK, I'll bite...

A female Dr Who? It's a gimmick. The character has always been a man who over the years has been sexist to varying degrees (although some of that was probably "OK" at the time - please note inverted commas...). The female characters in the modern series have been very strong characters often getting one up on the Doctor and so I think we can not label the (new) show itself as sexist at all (despite the odd comment on the attractiveness of some of the female characters by the male characters - in fact there have been several incidences of such comments coming in the other direction (e.g. Amy Pond to Rory "Pond", River to the Doctor).

I've no idea how good Jodi Whittaker will be as I've never seen her in anything else, but I've no reason to doubt that she will do a good job. However, a lot will depend how well it's written. I do have some doubts about how they play the sexism angle though. It will be tricky if the sorry takes place in Earth's past as women were not taken seriously and were not supposed to be in charge or control a dangerous situation - not that they were no able of course. So if the (female) Doctor does that how credible will it be (for the time).

I should probably say that I've no problem with a female character running around time and space being brilliant and saving everyone, Time Lord (Lady) or otherwise just not Dr Who [although I will be watching]. And I know that The Master regenerated into a woman (and a fantastic performance at that by Michelle Gomez) but he has form in breaking the rules and circumventing the restraints of the time lords).

On which point, the way I see it is:

Hartnell - 1st Doctor (we don't know definitively of any others, it was always assumed (and later stated) he was the first)
Troughton - 2nd Doctor (one regeneration - from Hartnell to Troughton)
Pertwee - 3rd Doctor (two)
Baker - 4th Doctor (three)
Davison - 5th Doctor (four)
Baker - 6th Doctor (five)
McCoy - 7th Doctor (six)
McGann - 8th Doctor (seven)
Hurt - 9th Doctor - though not referred to "The Doctor" by name (eight)
Eccleston - 10th (nine)
Tennant - 11th (ten and eleven with the same body so still the 11th Doctor
Smith - 12th (twelve)
Capaldi - 13th (one)
Whittaker - 14th

We learn about the 12 regeneration limit in The Deadly Assassin and it's clearly a physical limit - The Master has used his up (though he cheats this by putting his essence into another body in The Keeper of Traken). As for the Brain of Mobius - it's not at all clear that the faces we see are past incarnations and subsequent references over-rule that idea. Smith then get a new sequence in Time of The Doctor.
 
I'm not attacking anyone - sorry if it seems that way - just listing how I see it. My thoughts on Hartnell being the first, the Mobius controversy, and the 12 regenerations being physical, have not changed since the "classic" series finished. Nothing in the new run has changed that.
 
Well, here we go again.

I confess I've been away from the site in recent times and my comments on the Who escapades have subsequently lapsed.

In fairness, I wouldn't have been unqualified to comment anyway, since I stopped watching Who episodes because it was costing too much in new televisions. After one being damaged by a flung coffee cup and another being smashed after the face on the screen was punched, the final straw came when the third TV went out of the window (prior to opening). Mrs Tein called a halt to my watching after that (and I'm glad she did as watching was also affecting my health). It wasn't so much the cost of replacing the TVs (oddly with each re-incarnation of the set, the screen somehow grew larger on the outside). It was more that the window repair resulted in the the building of a new extension, with add on conservatory. Yet weirdly, the house doesn't seem to have got any bigger at all.

So...

It seems we have a new lady doctor, and (according to radio four) a new lady writer a one Malorie Blackman.

One of her claims to fame appears to be the Noughts and Crosses series of stories which has a new take on racism. I haven't read, or even heard of the stories, but the R4 program gave the impression they were perhaps worthy of a read. Personally racism twist stories don't float my boat. However, can she be any worse than the previous - Time will indeed tell.

As for the lady doctor, I have mixed expectations.

I didn't like the Broadchurch series (I seem to recall watching a few episodes - may have watched them all, I can't remember to be honest - which says a lot). What I do remember is Doctor Who was playing the detective and that jarred too much for me. I know actors have to make a living and parts are parts, and we shouldn't be biased against a character just because they seem to be exactly the same as they were in another program etc.. However, I was surprised when the blue box didn't whisk him of the beach back to his Rose.

However, that fact the main female lead in that program turns up as the new doctor seems a bit..........

So I'll watch it, but if old Ned turns up as cannon fodder again, the critiques may be even more harsh than the ones I did in the past. Always assuming I still have a television after Sunday (or a replacement).
 
The moment we saw a Galifreian General regenerate from an old white man to a black women whose first words on realising they were now female was something along the lines of “Thank god for that, how do they cope with all that ego?” I knew the Doctor was going to be a woman sometime soon. I didn’t see the last series with Capaldi I just never bothered, and somehow I can’t see my self watching it again. I guess after turning 50 I finally outgrew the series that first terrified me at the age of 4 or so with monsters that could walk through doors and walls to attack U.N.I.T. Soldiers. This new doctor with her ‘wacky’ children’s tv presenter’s outfit seems to me to be change for changes sake, I foresee a problem with the next regeneration if it’s another woman the BBC will get flak for ‘permanently’ changing the Doctor into a woman, and if they use a male actor they will be criticised and accused of misogyny. Sadly I won’t be watching as my days as a whovian are in the past, I guess, like James Bond, you have your Doctor and the others don’t quite match up, for me the Doctor was Pertwee and Baker.
 
Vladd, aye, I used to enjoy repeats of Pertwee and Baker (the Green Death particularly stuck in the memory).

Might watch the first episode. But I also caught that line you referenced, which was overtly anti-men (baffling how some people think bigotry is fine if it's against a certain group).
 
I've been looking forward to this all week so I'm hoping for the best. I'll be watching even though it is being broadcast Sunday at 1:45 in the afternoon. I'll have to watch on the 48' TV unless I kill my flatmate so I can change the channel on the 60' from football to Doctor Who.
 
MRG, also the Doctor's 'daughter', from the cloning genetic loom thingummyjig a few years ago.
 
Ursa major said:
No-one has said you were.

The construction "before you attack" has nothing to do with attacking as such. It's another way of saying "before you deal with". Dave was using meaning four from the Wiktionary definition of the verb.
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In that case, sorry Dave. I misunderstood you.

Anthoney said:
That was a ball they dropped. A wasted opportunity.
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I wondered what happened to her - and you're right.

I watched the episode last night and thought it was only so-so. Time will tell (ba dum, tish) if it gets better. The character of the new Doctor was most likely not representative of future episodes (still going through the effects of regeneration) so too early to say what that will be like - hopefully not as comedic. There were of couple of moments that were a bit too convenient for the story and it was distracting to see Bradley Walsh).

It was also irritating (though it really shouldn't have been...) to notice that those woods were not directly under where Ryan through his bike - either that or he has one hell of a good arm!

My wife thought it was "not great, but fun" - though she also thought it was "a bit too pc to make him a woman".
 
My two penn'orth...

As a science fiction story, it was OKish, but I never felt like I was watching Doctor Who. Maybe after a couple more episodes when the character settles down.

On the plus side, it was nice to see the episode ending on a bit of a cliffhanger. Will they survive the vacuum of space? Tune in, same time next week for more shenanigans in time and space.
 
Is that a cliffhanger, though?

Kudos to the writers if they just said: "Nope. They're dead." But I suspect that's a little unlikely :p
 
thaddeus6th said:
Is that a cliffhanger, though?

Kudos to the writers if they just said: "Nope. They're dead." But I suspect that's a little unlikely :p
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The problem with Who scriptwriters (sadly it seems to be happening with the new crop) is they can't connect the real world with the writing on the page.

There's no surviving the vacuum of space. (maybe you'd get away with a micro particle hole in your spacesuit - but the hole in your body would get you soon after).

This is childish fiction and it's already beginning to show. In the vacuum of space, within one second your eyes will boil and pretty soon after that your body give up the containment funtion. Total Recall did a reasonable attempt to show it, but they got it wrong too.

No doubt the blue box will save them, or some passing infinite probability drive spaceship* will be passing by to rescue them, but in real life they would be dead.

*In a pathetic hat tip to Douglas given his associations.

It's annoying, because the target audience (apparently children) will go forward with mis-informed knowledge of physics. No doubt failing their exams when they challenge the teacher - Cos it said so on Doctor Who.

From a quick look on the web water boils in a vacuum at -70 degrees (I think thats what the graph implies)
 
TheEndIsNigh said:
This is childish fiction and it's already beginning to show. In the vacuum of space, within one second your eyes will boil and pretty soon after that your body give up the containment funtion. Total Recall did a reasonable attempt to show it, but they got it wrong too.
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I linked to this website by Geoffrey Landis before in the Total Recall thread. It appears 2001: A Space Odyssey got it almost correct: Explosive Decompression and Vacuum Exposure
 
Davison found himself outside a spaceship in one episode and threw a cricket ball against the hull, caught it, and used the momentum to push him into the Tardis that was nearby.

Also (in new Who) doesn't the Tardis have some sort of field around it that allows you to survive if you are outside it (in space)? I'm thinking particularly when Amy was floating outside being held by the ankle...And there seemed to be a faint impression of the Tardis right next to the four of them - which would make sense if the Doctor had latched on to its signal?

Interesting link Dave.
 
SR, really? You won't watch it because the Doctor has lady parts now? You know how many positive male role models there are in film and TV compared to female ones?

But please, somebody think of the poor men!
 
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